These are just five more Power BI tips and tricks that I think everyone should know in order to get the most out of Power BI and produce better, more useful, and more powerful Power BI reports for their users. So without further ado, here are five more Power BI tips in no particular order. Enjoy!

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Earlier this week on Wednesday the Microsoft Power BI made an incredibly exciting announcement and released Power BI “publish to web” as a preview feature. This is HUUUUGE news! This was probably the top requested feature and its finally here thanks to the hard work and dedication of the Microsoft Power BI team! Continue reading Power BI Publish to Web for Anonymous Access is Here→

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If you’ve ever spoken at an event like a SQL Saturday or Code Camp, answered a question on a forum, written a blog post, or helped lead a discussion at your place of work then on some level you are already a Thought Leader. If you’re asking what a Thought Leader really is, you’re probably a lot like I was when I first started reading Denise Brousseau’s Ready to Be a Thought Leader. A Thought Leader is somebody that drives thinking and learning in a particular industry, group, or profession. These people are widely recognized as an expert and authority on their subject matter and a go-to-person for learning and insight into their field. Thought Leaders are men and women that take the time to increase their knowledge, share what they’ve learned, and make a difference in the lives of others in their niche. Ready to Be a Thought Leader demonstrates a seven step pattern laid out by Denise Brosseau instructing the reader on how to become an innovative, forwarding-thinking, cutting edge Thought Leader. Continue reading Make a Difference as a Thought Leader: A Book Review→

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I’ve done a lot of consulting work over the last several years but one thing I’ve noticed that every single client is interested in is using best practices. Whether we’re talking about building SSRS reports, designing a data warehouse, building a 2 TB cube, or designing an ETL solution for a large data warehouse, everyone wants to use best practices. But its easier said than done. How do you enforce best practice rules across your organization? BI xPress attempts to remedy that problem with its SSIS Best Practices Analyzer.

The great part of the BI xPress SSIS Best Practices Analyzer is that you have the option to create your very own custom rules to enforce across your organization. Of course the tool comes packed with a list of rules put together by our team of ETL developers, but you also have the option to create your own rules to add to and improve upon our list of best practices. Very cool stuff!

Basically the way the tool works is very simple. BI xPress reads the properties of the packages you wish to enforce your organization’s best practices on and tests the properties based on the rules you’ve defined. For example, imagine your organization follows a specific naming convention for each and every component in your SSIS package. Simply create the rule that checks for proper naming convention using Rule Create dialogue.

After you’ve created your rules based on your teams best practices, its very easy to check your existing SSIS package to verify that they are utilizing best practices.

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On April 27th next month, SQL Saturday #215 will be here in beautiful, sunny Jacksonville, Florida and none other than yours truly will be speaking, bright and early at 8:30 in the morning!

I’ll be presenting MDXplosion! Intro to MDX. The MDX query language is a powerful tool for extracting data from your cube but can often seem confusing and overwhelming to the untrained eye. But have no fear! It’s easier than you might think. In this session, I’m going to walk you through the basic MDX query syntax, how to navigate a hierarchy, how to create dynamic time calculations, and how to add calculations to your cube.

Also, don’t forget to check out the awesome Pre Con being offered by Brian Knight and Devin Knight on Building a SQL Server 2012 BI Platform. This pre con will cover everything from designing a data warehouse and loading it with SSIS to building an Analysis Services Cube leveraged by Reporting Services and SharePoint BI. You’ll definitely want to be a part of that, so register here for this amazing Pre Con.

If you’re not already registered for this awesome event, get on the ball! SQL Saturday Jacksonville is always a huge event and a ton of fun so get signed up ASAP! And don’t forget to check out my session: MDXplosion! Intro to MDX.